What are the odds?
by Tenxtena
Summary: Three friends find adventure at Knott's


The four of them stood at the gate, trying to have a four way conversation with each other as they were all cramming their change back into their wallets and simultaneously saying which ride was the best to go on first.

"Alright, alright, STOP." yelled Annette, quickly getting everyones attention. Kristina turned around and stared, big brown eyes wide; behind her, Ashley continued to struggle with her money, which she refused to fold but tried to crunch into one massive lump. Eriol just turned around and blinked, waiting expectantly.

"Okay, whose got the best idea for our first ride?"

She knew before she even asked the question that Eriol would know where to go. "Let's head over to Excelirator. It's right around the corner and the line is usually short when its this early." Kristina and Ashley nodded in agreement, then the four girls walked over towards the rollar coaster. Eriol lead the way, wearing a pair of comfortable shorts and a black and white striped short sleeved jacket, was followed closely byt the three other girls. Her little sister was with her friend Erica and soon to go off by themselves, so It would just be Eriol, Annette and Kristina. The latter, a petite Filipina with a passion for dance and a wardrobe to match, was casual in white shorts and an off-the-shoulder black tee that showed the Filipino sun and a tag that proclaimed "Know your Roots". Annette, the tallest and also the only white, had on a pair of jeans and her black slytherin jacket; Yah, she wore a jacket in 100 degree weather. That's just what she did. Deal with it. Clad in her purple converse (yes, she wore shoes while all her intelligent, summer conscious friends fwore flip flops!), she caught up to Kristina and abruptly picked her up from around the waist and swung her around, eliciting a loud shriek and causing a group of guys a little farther ahead to look back, confused. They walked into the line for excelirator, and not wanting to get caught in a huge wait, Annette grabbed her friends hands and rushed towards the line to follow the group. The girls ducked through the line, running with excitement; only Kristina held back, not very enthusiastic about going on this, or any other coaster for that matter.

"Do I have to? I can just wait…" Kristina mumbled, but Annette simply hiked her forward, forcing her onward. Annette then turned around and booked it down the slope, curving around a corner and out of sight. Eriol and Kristina looked at each other then sped up, hoping that Annette wouldn't crash into anything but had little hope. Sure enough, she was looking over her shoulder and didn't see the earlier group of guys had stopped; she ran into the tallest one and clung to his tank top to stabilize herself. She was pressing heavily against him, trying to calm her erratic breathing, until she realized what she was doing and abruptly let go. Her two friends, laughing hysterically, went to her first to see if she was all right; Annette was blushing madly, and she flipped her head upside down to respike her hair before replying 'fine'..

"Hey, Ryan, her hair looks likes yours. Do you think it takes her as long to do it?"

"Hey, shut up, man, just because the grease in your hair keeps it stiff for days…" The guys in front of the three girls talked amongst themselves, and after a few seconds, the tall one turned around to face his spontaneous hugger.

"Are you alright?" He looked down at Annette, whose face had just frozen in shock. If his spiked purple hair hadn't given him away, he was screwed now. Ryan Feng looked down at her, and directly behind him, D-Trix and Ryan were also looking, curious. Annette felt Eriol stiffen to her right, and an audible gasp from Kristina to her left; she recovered after realizing her mouth was open, and quickly shut it.

"Um, yes, yah! I'm just… a total klutz sometimes. I'm so sorry!" She apologized, because hey, she just ran head first into Quest Crew.

And indeed, they were all there, with Brian at the far front. Steve next to Victor, Hok standing behind D-Trix, and Ryan and Feng. And all of them were staring at the three girls.

"Don't even worry about it." He turned back around and continued his conversation with the other guys, but D-Trix occasionally looked over Feng's shoulder to sneak peaks to Kristina. Eriol was blatently staring at Hok, as if willing him to turn around with just her willpower. It didn't work.

"okay, so, you just had a collision course with Feng. Of Quest Crew. Oh, he's totally, just, right there. D-Trix is just standing there. TWO feet from me…" Kristina went on an incoherent tangent, muttering 'right there' and 'um, wow'.

"Quiet, and give me your camera!"

"I don't think I brought my camera!"

"Of course you did, you're asian, you bring your camera everywhere."

"Oh yah…" Kristina opened her bag and fished for her camera, pulling it out and handing it to Annette, who slowly turned around, only to find that the boys were no longer behind them, but slowly working their way down the line. Eriol poked the girls' backs.

"Go go!" Complying, the girls rushed down and met back up with the guys, who almost seemed to be waiting for them; they all watched the girls rush down, and noticing the camera in Annette's hand, D-Trix smiled and rolled his eyes.

"Hey guys, I think they recognize us." The guys all chuckled as if they're conversation had been confirmed. Eriol laughed breathily and Kristina tried not to blush, but Annette just held up the camera and asked "Would you mind?"

Ryan smiled and nodded, and the pic fest began. Each girl posed with two guys at a time, and then asked the men in front of Quest to take a few group photos. Everyone was getting comfortable with each other, so by the last picture, Annette and Feng were wrapped in a full on hug, cheeks touching, Hok had his arm draped casually over Eriol's shoulders and D-trix was standing directly behind Kristina, his hands on her shoulders. The pictures taken, the three girls clucked out a million 'thank you's' and went back to themselves, heads huddled over the camera to see their new treasures. The guys proceeded to yell randomly, acting very boyish and just excited to ride the coaster; however, every few minutes or so, one of the guys would look back and catch the eye of a girl; a surprise came for them when the boys got to the gate and the usher asked how many were in his party.

"Ten of us." Ryanimay calmly replied, as the guys looked up confused; there were only seven guys, but then if you counted… ohhh….

Ryan looked at all of them. "Please, as if you weren't thinking the same thing. This way its an even number and we won't get split up."

D-Trix pursed his lips and nodded. "Alright ladies, whose riding with who?" He looked expectantly at the three, who hadn't noticed the small exchange at the gate and were therefore confused.

"Um, what?"

Steve was closest to the back and stood next to Eriol, so he poked her in the arm and said "I've got my ride buddy!" His broad grin was infectious and soon, Eriol was smiling as well. Kristina, however, looked worried; as much as she wanted to sit next to D-Trix, she was a little terrified of the whole 'falling' bit and didn't want to seem obnoxious. Annette saw this and stood closer to Kristina. "I'll ride with this one, she's a little dork." The Filipina didn't know whether to be grateful for her friend or mad that D-Trix didn't insist on riding with her, so she settled on both. Without further ado, the group got on, with Annette snapping pictures of everyone in their confinement, and no failed to make an obnoxious face. The ride was awesome, and though Kristina was a little shaky, it was Eriol who was hyped up the most.

"Bye, and thank you for taking pictures with us!" said Annette, and with that the guys walked off in a separate direction. Watching them from behind, the girls just grabbed onto each other and started flipping out.

"HOLY CRAP!"

"Oh my gosh…"

"DUDE!…Ah!!"

"You know, I would normally text the two of you if this happened to me…" And off they went, chatting animatedly and spontaneously singing a line or two of some uplifting song. Because seriously, they just hung out with Quest!! The girls walked around the park, halfheartedly looking at the next ride to visit, until they found themselves in the farthest corner of the park, by the Mystery Lodge. Annette and Kristina didn't look twice at it, having never been in there before, but Eriol stopped and began walking towards it.

"Let's go in! The next show is in like five minutes." She looked expectantly at her friends, who shrugged and walked towards her, single filing to walk through the aisles.

"What is this, anyway?"

"It's a native American show, it has special effects and… its cool, okay? Just go in!" Laughing, they walked in and took a seat on a bench a few rows back, that was empty except the three of them. All was quiet for a few minutes as they waited for the show to start when a rowdy group of guys could be heard from behind the wall. The voices grew louder as they approached and the girls could feel the twinge of recognition; they looked at each other, shocked. There was NO way…

But it was, and the seven guys from Quest crew barreled in as the lights began to dim. Blinking rapidly, they tried to adjust to the lack of light and find a seat. The girls just stared at them, inwardly debating whether or not to call to them, when Eriol opened her mouth and yelled-whispered "If you waste food again, I'll beat you with bamboo stick!"

Steve whipped his head around and grinned broadly as he walked over to his new friend. The other guys quickly noticed that he had seemingly found a spot, and were pleased to see who they were looking at. Steve plopped down next to Eriol, her left open, while Annette was stuck in the middle and very unlikely to sit by any of the guys that came over. Kristina was looking over her shoulder and watching with a shy smile as Dominic came to sit by her; She swept her hair back as she answered his question.

"My name is Kristina."

The five remaining guys filed in behind the other, and Annette watched a curious act. Brian attempted to walk in first, but Hok squeezed in at the last second and walked deliberately towards Steve and Eriol. He sat down and leaned forward, which caused his face to hover directly by her left shoulder.

"Steve, why is she going to beat you with a bamboo stick?" His face was towards Steve but his eyes were half lidded, glancing at the girl, who flushed mildly.

Annette pouted, knowing she had little prospect of sitting by any of the other guys, but she still turned around when Victor, Feng and Ryan sat directly behind her; Brian, leading the rear, was behind Kristina and D-Trix, who appeared to be listening to whatever she was saying with rapt attention. Twisting her body around, she faced Feng full on and whispered "Are you guys following us now?"

He smiled, "I think we all just amazing taste in… Native American shows." He looked around, as if to make sure that's where he actually was. "it was Hok's idea, he said it was a cool show."

She laughed softly. "Yah, Eriol " she pointed to the girl on her left "said this place was a lot of fun. I've never seen the show, I'm a ride warrior. Try to hit as many coasters as I can."

Back with Eriol, she was trying to explain the joke without sounding dorky; it wasn't working too well.

"Well, there's this guy on youtube, and he kinda plays up asian stereotypes. He suppose to be studying for his SAT's, and his father threatens to beat him with a bamboo stick…" she finished, knowing it probably didn't sound all that funny. Steve was snickering by Eriol, but Hok smirked softly and said "That's KevJumba's video, isn't it?"

Her face lit up. "Exactly!I actually have a bamboo stick we used from this project in school a long time ago…" And she continued on, with Hok nodding in agreement.

To her right, D-Trix was continually smiling as he watched Kristina scroll rapidly through her camera, trying to find a decent picture of her dancing without one of her signature expressions on her face; he just snatched the camera out of her hand and looked through them slowly, his grin getting bigger and bigger.

"NO! No, seriously, don't look at those. I have, just no. Give me back my camera!" She lunged for it, but he scooted out of her reach with a laugh and kept going. He suddenly stopped at one picture, and thinking the worst, she hid her face in her hands. Annette whipped around and watched D-Trix as he got out his cell phone, and snapped a picture OF the picture he was looking at. He looked at a few more snapshots, then went back to the first one and handed the camera back to Kristina. Annette grabbed it first, ready to tease Kristina on the pic he was so attentive to, but it died in her throat. The picture was of Kristina, a close up shot with her sitting on the right hand side of the frame, looking over her left shoulder. She wore only a white t-shirt and grey shorts, her short hair piled into a messy ponytail and sticking her tongue out to whoever had the camera. It was the dancer at her most casual, and THAT was what Dominic had taken a picture of.

Suddenly the lights dimmed, to signal the shows start, so no one saw their blushes. Eriol turned around to face the front and started chatting animatedly to the girl to her right; she mouthed 'HOLY SHIZ' and was grinning from ear to ear. The show WAS good, captivating the audience, the glass and smoke effects causing the girls (and some of the guys) to flinch; at one point, D-Trix was holding onto Kristina's sleeve and Hok tugged at a piece of Eriol's long, shiny hair; he had been playing with it subconsciously and was spooked suddenly. When the show ended, Kristina sat up, blushing slighty, and the guys filed out first. They waited until the three girls came out, and a silence followed; it was clear that the groups did not want to part ways, but neither one of them wanted to admit it.

Annette spoke up, "Alright, well… you guys are probably busy.. so we'll see you around?" She looked up and caught the eye of Feng, who nodded and smiled slightly.

"Yah.. maybe. Let's take another group shot? With my camera this time?" D-Trix spoke up, looking hopeful, pulling his camera out of his pocket. Ryan got his out too, and the group asked an older couple to take the photos. Eriol was going to walk over to stand by Annette, but she felt a broad hand slip into hers and pull her back. She turned around to find Hok's arm drapped snugly around her shoulders, so she placed her hands in front of her and grinned, broadly. Kristina and Dominic just gravitated towards each other, wrapping an arm around each others waist. Annette knelt in the front, her back pressed against feng's legs and posed with Ryan. They took a few different poses, with the last one with everyone holding up a peace sign. With a few more hugs between the girls and guys (with Victor randomly hugging Hok), they walked separate ways again. This time, EVERYONE turned around for a second glance.

" Soooo, Stina babe… when should we go dress shopping?"

"Whaaa? For what?"

"Bridesmaids dresses, of course! I give D-Trix three, four months to pop the question…"

She slapped the blonde and scoffed, while Eriol threw he r head ba ck and laughed, clapping.

"And what about you!! Freaking Hok held your hand! Love is in the aaaiiiir…" Annette danced forward, prancing into the air. "Everytime I look around…." She spun on spot, smiling at her friends. They all just stared and cracked up simultaneously, then squished their faces together to take a picture again. The smiles faltered and broke into laughter when a fierce rumbling erupted from Eriol; they all stared at her stomach in surprise.

She looked away and smiled. "Let's go get a funnel cake. TOTAL craving!"  
"Where the heck is that?"

"Ummm…" Kristina pulled out her map, flipped it about six times, then finally spotted the tiny legend and scanned the page.

"It's clear across the park!"

Annette shrugged. "Nothing like a hike to feed an appetite!" Kristina looked incredulous, so Annette offered to buy her one. Looking considerably happier, the short one perked up and the three began walking. They reached the small stand about 15 minutes later, sweating and tempermental; this funnel cake better be freakin FANTASTIC. They walked until Eriol started laughing hysterically, and pointed to where a group of rowdy, purple clad guys were walking determindly towards the same place. The group was lead by the smallest, Steve, who was chanting FUN-NEL, FUN-NEL!!! …I know. It was Quest. WHO SAW IT COMING??

The girls waited until the guys got to the small window, then snuck up behind them. Eriol poked Steve in the cheek, Kristina casually leaned against the counter next to D-Trix, waiting for him to see her, and Annette attempted to steal Feng's wallet from his pocket.

They ALL brightened up, with Victor even coming over and hugging Annette. She smiled and asked "So… you can fess up and tell us that you're following us."

Ryan smiled and shook his head, his spikes flying. "We might as well be. Do you guys just want to hang out with us for the rest of the day?" The magic words were spoken and everyone was clearly happier, so after they bought their cakes, they all squeezed into the cramped tables and chattered.

"So, Steve is a total pig and had like eight of these already. He can eat more than any three of us combined. I don't see how he's not obese." Annette was snorting, laughing so hard, and Feng was chuckling and softly patting her back. Eriol was sanitizing her hands before diving into hers, making sure she had napkins to clean up after herself; Hok was watching her like a hawk, a small smile gracing his lips.

"May I have a piece? I've never had a funnel cake before." Hok looked at her serenely, and as she went to cut off a piece, he opened his mouth expectantly, awaiting the treat. Laughing, she gingerly fed him the piece, then sprinkled powdered sugar casually over his nose. His shocked expression and pure white faux freckles caused Eriol to go into hysterics, she nearly fell off the table bench. Kristina, meanwhile, was simply trying to throw the pieces into Dominic's mouth, and failing. Epically. From that point, the group was inseparable for the rest of the day; they hit nearly every corner of the park and explored every shop. They reached the arcade, and Annette instantly struck up a challenge.

"ANY of you guys, bring it on. DDR, you and me!" She looked up and saw D-Trix put on his 'game' face and step up, krumping in her face. Annette stared coldly into his eyes, then poked his ribs and ran inside, relishing in the sound of a man giggling. They both were getting insanely into the game, D-Trix trying to flaunt his 'moves' while everyone cheered for Annette and booed him, even his own crew. Annette called Feng over and whispered something into his ears; he smiled and nodded, then motioned Brian to stand by him. As soon as he hit a double jump, they quickly pantsed him; Kristina doubled over and he was furious at his friends. It took him a few minutes to get out of the photo booth and be calm enough to be in contact with others. As they left the arcade, the group was attacked by girls who also recognized the crew for who they were and asked for pictures. Annette took this opportunity to pull Feng to the side and talk to him.

"Alright, so Kristina and Dominic really like each other, and its pretty obvious the Hok is smitten with my girl Eriol. Now, what do we do to make it happen?" She looked expectantly at the tall purple head, who was confused, then thought off.

"Alright… here's what we do…"

While plotting, they didn't realize that the crowd of girls was steadily growing larger, and by the time Annette looked up, they were completely engulfed.

Thinking quickly, she stood up on her tip toes and pushed her way back through the crowd.

"ALRIGHT, FOLKS! Quest is REALLY busy, so we have to be on our way. Make sure to visit !" Grabbing Ryan's and Brian's hands, she pushed through the crowd with the others at her heels. Eriol and Kristina were waiting, and using her super special awesome skills, Eriol maneuvered the ten of them away from the masses. They ended up near the Ferris Wheel, and Steve was giggling with Eriol.

"Did you see them? I was so freaked out!"

"I know, I thought you'd get eaten up!"

"…I'll eat you up…"

"I LOVE THAT SONG! But now I want dinner!" The other guys rolled their eyes as Steve, yet again, asked for food.

"Alright… Dominic, take Kristina to the Ferris wheel, its gotta be one of her favorite rides. We'll meet you over at Calico Square. Okay?" Feng called over his shoulder as the rest of the group left, quite suddenly.

"WHAT THE HELL? I don't even know that is!" D-Trix called out, perplexed. Kristina was just staring murderously at the back of Annette's head, knowing quite well this was no coincidence.  
He looked down at her, then towards the empty line of the Wheel.

"Shall we?"  
Kristina HATED heights. No, scratch that. She hated falling. But there was no way on this green earth was she going to tell D-Trix that. So she sucked it up and said yes.

The eight continued to walk, Feng and Annette high fiving each other on a hook up well done. She passed, laughing by a mirrored window and stopped momentarily to check her hair; noting its lackluster appearance, she stopped and pulled out a tiny bottle of hairspray. Ryan rushed over.

"Let me do it!" And with that, he re styled the hair that looked fabulously like his own, spiking it in its proper place and fanning out her blonde streak. Eriol and Hok, wrapped up in their own conversation about her family, didn't notice they had left behind the other six until they were at least shouting distance away. Eriol stopped and was attempting to turn around when Hok tugged her arm and smiled reassuringly.

"We know where to go. I want to shop a bit, anyways." After a split second hesitation, she followed him into the next chain of side shops, looking at the gorgeous silver work.

"…So like I was saying, my family means everything. I'm Filipino, its just natural that the family is close. I try to get my sister and mom something nice wherever I go."

She looked over at the necklaces again, finding them both heartbreakingly beautiful and waaaay too expensive. She walked over to the next shop, a candy store, and peeked her head in, looking for rock candy. Browsing, she noticed that it was quiet, and turned around, looking for the handsome dancer she was just speaking to. He came through the door a split second later, smiled, and walked over.  
He spoke up. "Do you like rock candy? It's my favorite, and I try to look for some every time I come here. Could I buy you some?"

With the rest of the group, Annette was the only girl left.

"Um, where's Lydia? Doesn't she usually come with you guys?"

Steve rolled his eyes and laughed. "She actually is here, just on a date. Her and her boyfriend went off, but they're going to meet us up, too."

"Ohhh," said Annette. "That's cool. Ya know, we girls gotta give some lovin' to our guys every once in awhile." She laughed, internally mad at herself for being so casual. She needed to flirt!

The six of them walked on, Ryan and Annette getting in a heated discussion on the best type of shampoo. Ryan won. They stopped suddenly when she suddenly veered off and looked at the basket shooting booth. Hanging from the rafters was a wolf plush, and she had no eyes but for it. Whipping around, she asked in a whisper "Can anyone of you shoot hoops?"

Climbing into the cramped bench, Kristina sat back against D-Trix's arm and clutched her hands together. The wheel lurched forward and she squealed. This ride was old and really tall and she could NOT handle it; she refused to look at anything but her lap, and he looked over, concerned.

"Kristina, what's the matter?" He reached to grab her hand out of her lap, but she clenched on, tight.

"I'm sorry…. I'm just terrified. I know, I'm sorry I didn't say anything before but I really REALLY hate heights." She looked away, embarrassed; Dominic, however, softened his face and brought his right hand underneath her chin. Tilting her head towards him, he looked in her eyes and whispered, "Hey. I'm right here. I'm not gonna let anything bad happen to you. I'll take care of you." Overwhelmed, she buried her face in his shoulder as he kissed the top of her head and held her hand to her waist.

Hok bought the candy and grabbed the bag for her, handing it open so she could look inside for what she wanted. She peeked inside and next to the glittering sugar was a small white box. Confused, she lifted the box out and opened it, to reveal the fine filigree heart necklace she admired in the shop previous. Shocked, she looked up to find Hok looking anywhere else but at her; he looked nervous.

He cleared his throat. "I just thought…" he brought his head down, "…that if you are so selfless with your family, somebody aught to show that compassion back." He looked up, waiting to see if she was displeased or happy with the gift. Clutching the necklace, she simply walked towards him and, smiling, enveloped him in an enormous hug. He embraced her back, and said softly "I like a girl who appreciates her family."

Feng, without a word, stepped up and grabbed a ball. With the ease of a practiced perfectionist, he shot the ball into a perfect arch and listened to the clean swish of the netting as the ball went through. The man brought down the toy (after taking a picture with Feng) and the tall dancer handed the blushing girl the prize. Their hands brushed together, and he grabbed her hand purposely.

"You want to see your friends happy…" he looked point blank at her.

"Do YOU want to be happy?" Startled, she looked away and her breath hitched in her throat. She coughed slightly and looked back, flushed.

"I do… but I'm not pretty, so I'm going to have to wait awhile." Trying to smile, to make a joke, she couldn't shake his look from her mind.

"Annette… you," he brought her hand to her cheek, "are lovely."

She smiled as she interlaced her fingers in his. "You're not so bad yourself, kid."

Walking back with Feng's left hand locked together with her own by her shoulder, a wolf tucked underneath her right arm, they all walked towards Calico Square. From the far right, Kristina and D-Trix could be seen, his arms snaked around her waist from behind and her bright smile apparent from miles. Turning the corner, Hok had his arm around Eriol's shoulders, hers wrapped around his waist, and her free hand fingering a gorgeous necklace that dropped from her neck. They met up and took one look at each other and laughed; this was almost too good to be true.

Brian, seemingly out of nowhere, piped up. "Where's Lydia?"

Victor, fluffing up Annette's hair and laughing as she swatted him away, pointed by a park bench and yelled "Right there. She's eating ice cream."

And indeed she was, her legs draped intimately across the lap of her boyfriend, who was feeding her an ice cream bar. They both looked up at the sound of her name, but his express was complete shock.

Kristina, Eriol and Annette all dropped their jaws.

"PATRICK?"

He smiled sheepishly; running his hands through his fabulously dyed purple streaked hair, and said a feeble "Hey you guys! … What brings you here?"  
"Oh my God, I knew it! I KNEW they'd end up together!"

"Kuya, you coulda told me sooner, you know!"

"Dood, what are the odds?"

And the twelve of them stood in silence as they tried to contemplate the events of the day, and decided they just needed to go get a burger or something.

"Yah! We should go to Fatburger, I'm SO hungry, I haven't eaten all day!"

"STEVE!"


End file.
